Hearts to God (The Hearts to God Series)

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  “Some would say you are a fool for causing talk.” He stepped in front of her, and stopped. “But I know a way to stop talk, and I’m willing to do it, as I expect no one else decent will be.”

  Though Artemisia was a small town, they weren’t alone on the street, and every door that swung open, every cart that rattled past made Madeline’s heart jump. She suspected standing on the street with Mr. Cary would damage her ‘reputation’ more than anything that had yet occurred.

  Sarah caught her sister by the arm “Mr. Cary, I’m sure I don’t know what you are talking about. My sister has only been in town a few days. I’ll thank you for my packages now.” She held out her empty arm, but Mr. Cary did not return the paper wrapped fabric.

  “Mrs. Greene, circumstances being what they are, may I have your permission to call on your sister this evening?”

  “What circumstances?” Madeline’s voice rose.

  “You have forgotten yesterday’s scene with Smokey all ready?” He clucked. “Or was it so commonplace a happening that you hardly registered it?”

  “What are you talking about?” Sarah demanded.

  Mr. Cary acknowledged Sarah with his greasy smile. “Yesterday your sister made the acquaintance of one of my regular clients, and… things didn’t go well.” He nodded in the direction of the boarding house. “We’re all looking for the man who hit him and ran off with your sister, but he hasn’t surfaced yet. I don’t think a good man like Mr. Sutton will be interested in taking on a woman who has already sullied her reputation. But if you want, or need, to get her off of your hands, I think we could come to an agreement that satisfies me.”

  Sara stepped as close to the edge of the sidewalk as she could. “What is this man talking about, Madeline?”

  “It happened right here, in fact.” Mr. Cary nodded up at his building.

  Sarah sucked in a breath.

  “A satisfied client was leaving the premises when Miss Snow happened by. He wanted to be friendly, and she repulsed him. Before he had a chance to be properly introduced to the young lady, that quack Lee showed up, punched my client in the face and ran off with your sister, taking her God knows where, but I can only guess it was to the little China underground.”

  The only movement in Sarah’s face was the slight twitch of her left eye.

  Madeline’s stomach turned, and the world seemed to spin around her. “That’s not what happened.”

  Sarah wrenched the package from Mr. Cary’s hands. Then she grabbed her sister and tugged her down the sidewalk.

  “I’ll come by this evening, ma’am.” Mr. Cary hollered.

  Two ladies in a cart slowed down and stared at Madeline and Sarah, but Sarah held her head high and didn’t acknowledge them or Mr. Cary.

  Once they were outside of town Madeline tried again. “Please believe me; what he said isn’t what happened.”

  “I don’t want to hear about it.”

  “But you need to. If there’s talk, if that man has started talk, you ought to know what really happened.”

  Sarah had sped up. Madeline tripped over her skirts trying to keep up with her.

  “If there is talk, I do not want to hear it. If you tell me about it, I will have to acknowledge what people say. Is that what you want?”

  “Of course not. But truly, I was just standing by the hotel when a drunk man accosted me. I had my crate—”

  “That’s no hotel, Madeline.”

  “Yes, the hotel. With the sign. The boarding house.”

  Sarah laughed sardonically. “The boarding house? For ladies? Oh, Madeline. Things aren’t always what they claim to be.”

  “Whatever it was, a drunk man came out and tried to accost me.”

  “Of course he did if you were standing around outside of a whorehouse. Madeline, really. You are worse than my Kitty.” They had made it back to the long driveway down to the farm. “I don’t want one word spoken of this before my children or my husband, do you understand? You at a whorehouse with drunk men and running off with…with… No. I don’t want to hear another word.” Sarah stalked down the driveway faster than Madeline could keep up.

  “Doc Lee protected me from a great evil!” Madeline yelled after her sister.

  Chapter 4

  Madeline went straight to work in the shed. If Sarah wasn’t going to hear her, she saw no value in following her into the house.

  Madeline went to work on a small, wrinkly Alkanet root. The dry heat made her lips feel like paper, and she couldn’t be the only one. She only needed a source of beeswax and almond oil and she could make salves. The root would lightly tint the lip balm, something she wasn’t interested in, but knew would be popular with the ladies in town…if she didn’t over tint it, anyway.

  “Dear God, what were you thinking?” She ground the heavy mortar against the stone pestle. “I don’t mean to be a bother, truly I don’t. But, dear Father…what can I do now?” She used a heavy hand with the dried root thinking how her reputation seemed easier to destroy than the root did.

  And what of it, once it was destroyed? The root made things beautiful, dying wool a deep red. Tinting the lips of pretty ladies. But what of her? If her reputation was ground to a powder, nothing good would come of it. She poured her powder into a small tin. She wouldn’t need much if the ladies in town were going to shun her.

  But she couldn’t let that happen. Sarah had been distressed walking home, but she would cool down. Maybe she had already. Madeline went to the house to try and talk to her sister again. Doc Lee sat at the big pine table folding paper shapes for Kitty and Job. Zeke stood at the counter sharpening a knife.

  Madeline stopped in the doorway, unsure what to do.

  “Madeline, I brought the doc up to see about Job’s cough. Why don’t you join us? Tell him about your wares.” Like Sarah, Zeke had a plain-talking, business-like way about him. It wasn’t friendly, but it wasn’t cold, either. It gave her a sense of security. He spoke like a man who took care of things.

  “Miss Snow.” Doc set down his paper. “Glad to make your acquaintance.” He offered her his chair.

  “And yours.” Madeline sat. Kitty, her twelve-year-old niece, sailed a small boat of paper on the tabletop.

  “Zeke here tells me you grow things I might like to buy.”

  “Yes! I…I can go get my catalog or my samples.” She scooted her chair to stand up.

  “Set yourself down.” Zeke said. “Visit awhile first. There’s time for samples and all of that later.”

  Doc sat across from her, a look of genuine pleasure on his face. He had such golden skin, like the family of Delaware Indians who had stayed at the community for a time, but his eyes—they were green like sage, so light in his tan face. “I have a good store of herbs and things to sell…” The words stuck in her mouth. She felt foolish. A good store of herbs? Surely she could say something more interesting than that.

  “Do you grow them yourself?”

  “I did, but I haven’t started a garden here. I don’t know what will do well.”

  “Everything will. This is God’s country.” He took the boat from Kitty and slid it across the table to Job.

  “You kids go out and do the chores.” Zeke pulled the door open. The kids followed with a backwards glance at the young doctor but no back-talk to their pa.

  “Move on, you two. Don’t linger at the door; there’s work to be done.” Sarah’s voice came from the other room. She jostled her way past her children and into the kitchen.

  Doc stood. “Ma’am.” He picked up his hat. “I prolly ought to be goin’.”

  “Sit. You just got here.” Zeke kissed his wife on the cheek. “Stop looking like the house is on fire, Sarah.”

  “Ezekial. A word.” She inclined her head toward the porch.

  “I’ve got company, darlin’.” He took a seat at the table.

  “I brought up some tea for Job’s cough. He ought to be feelin’ better by this time tomorrow.” Doc worried the edge of his felt hat. His cheerful face looked
guarded.

  “And I was going to tell him about what I do,” Madeline said. “If you all don’t mind, that is.”

  “I’ve got to fix supper, and I was hoping for your help.” Sarah didn’t take her eyes off Zeke. “So perhaps the men folk can get out of our kitchen and let us work.

  Doc stood up again, fast. “We’ll git. We don’t mind. Miss Snow, another time?”

  Madeline nodded, but the look on Sarah’s face indicated another time was as likely as snowfall coming in the night.

  “Sarah, you’re gettin’ your way right now, but I expect a good supper for it.” He kissed his wife on the top of the head and went outside with Doc.

  “Did you invite that man here?”

  “No, of course not. How would I have reached him? When would I have gone? He came to give Job medicine.”

  “That’s a lot of talk when a simple no would have done. If you didn’t invite him, I gather you wish you had.” Sarah pulled a wooden bowl from the shelf.

  “Let me.” Madeline took it. She took out the ingredients for biscuits and began to mix. “I didn’t invite him, but if Zeke wants me to do business with him, I ought not say no.”

  “I’ll handle my husband, thank you very much.” Sarah stoked up the fire. “And we’ll get you your own to handle. But if we stand any chance of a decent match, you need to keep better company.”

  Madeline poured her frustration into the biscuits. As much as she wanted to have words with her sister, she couldn’t, not so long as she owed her food and comfort to Sarah’s generosity. “But what good would that really do?”

  “You can’t be living here forever. And you don’t want to be living alone. It’s not safe.”

  Safety. The Oregon men were beginning to convince her that safety might be an issue. “But I won’t live alone, surely.” She stopped. How else would she live? She had never been alone before, not even for an afternoon. If she followed her plan, it would be just her and God.

  “If you don’t live here and you don’t get married, what do you think you’ll do? Go join Mr. Cary’s girls?” Sarah laughed, almost lightly, for the first time since Madeline had arrived.

  The sound of it shocked Madeline into looking up. “That’s not funny.”

  “It is, too. Look at yourself. Covered up to your ears and down to your toes and it’s 100 degrees or more out there. What kind of lady light would you make? A hot one!” Sarah laughed again.

  “Now, you listen, just because I don’t want to get married doesn’t mean I’m going to run myself into trouble.”

  Zeke’s voice bellowed from the front of the farmyard.

  Madeline and Sarah froze.

  A horse whinnied, and hooves stomped.

  Sarah glanced toward the front hall, and both women tiptoed into the other room where they could hear better.

  Zeke was in full voice, loud and deep. “You’re no gentleman.”

  Madeline’s heart flipped. What had Doc done?

  “Settle that horse down or you’re gonna have trouble.” This was Doc, but he couldn’t have been speaking to Zeke.

  “I’ve a right to come callin’. More right than that half-breed does.”

  “I’m escorting you offa this land with my words or with my gun. You decide.” Zeke’s words froze Madeline’s heart.

  “I don’t have a gun on me,” Doc said. “So you might wanna walk away with me rather than Zeke.”

  “I’m not leavin’ till I make my proposition to that little lady you got in there.” The third man spoke again. Madeline recognized that voice—as smooth as oil and just as greasy. Mr. Cary had come as he said he would.

  She buried her face in her hands. Her whole body shook. What exactly had she done to create this? She had paused on the sidewalk. That was all.

  Sarah put her hand on Madeline’s shaking shoulder. Her touch was light, almost stiff, but it was something. Madeline lifted her head and sought out a look of comfort from her sister, but Sarah’s face was unmoved.

  The only sounds they could hear through the closed door were the shuffling of the horse’s hooves.

  Then two sharp retorts from Zeke’s shotgun.

  Sarah stood up, her hand to her mouth.

  “Careful now!” Mr. Cary’s voice was loud, though he sounded surprised rather than scared. “You want to live happy in this town, don’t you? That’s hard to do if you shoot the Mayor.”

  “You’d never have been Mayor if you didn’t have such a big client list at your cat house. You dirty, flannel-mouthed, blacksmithing—” Zeke’s words were cut off by another shot.

  “Calm yourself, Zeke. I’ll walk this gentleman back the way he came.” Doc’s voice was loud and scared.

  “Touch me, and so help me God, you’ll hang!” Now Mr. Cary was yelling as well.

  Madeline got to her knees and began to pray, the words pouring out in a language only the Holy Spirit would understand, a reflection of her fear and faith.

  Sarah jolted. “Not in my house!” She pressed herself against the wall. “Madeline Snow, you are not to do that devil speak in my house. Do you understand?”

  Madeline barely heard her sister, her mind was completely focused on God and the help she begged from him.

  Sarah yanked her by the hair and pulled her to her feet. The pain of it shot straight to her soul. Madeline swayed. She grabbed the back of the rocking chair and tried to steady herself.

  Sarah slapped her across the face. “I said not in my house!”

  Madeline pressed her hand to her cheek. “I was praying!”

  “You call that praying?” Sarah’s face was paper white, and her whole body shook in fear.

  Madeline reached out to her sister. How could she not understand praying in tongues? Had the Holiness movement not made it to Oregon yet? Madeline squeezed her eyes shut. Surely she didn’t have to abandon everything she had grown up with. She whispered another prayer, this time in English. It felt forced, and yet a relief. Though the men continued to yell outside and Sarah stared at her like a monster, she had a sense of peace. God would listen to her whether she danced or knelt, whether she prayed in tongues or in English. If she only called on the name of Jesus, and no one else, He would listen and take care of her.

  One more shot rang out, then silence.

  Sarah flung the door open with a crash and ran down the steps.

  Madeline froze in the doorway.

  Mr. Cary pressed his hand to his shoulder.

  Zeke held his gun, pointed down, a look of shock on his own face.

  Doc Lee approached Mr. Cary.

  “If you touch me, I will kill you, boy.”

  Doc froze.

  “You will pay for that shot, Ezekiel Greene.” Mr. Cary climbed into his carriage. “I was going to save your sister from herself, but I don’t think I’ll do it now. She can burn. You all can burn!” He turned his carriage and drove down the driveway, the sun just beginning to set behind him.

  Chapter 5

  Doc and Zeke watched until Mr. Cary had driven out of sight.

  Sarah stood in the door, arms crossed.

  Doc looked from her to Zeke. “I’ll go. But send for me, Zeke. Whenever you want, I’ll come.” He looked past Sarah into the house. Madeline tucked herself behind the wall, afraid to meet his gaze, though she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She had caused violence and brought shame on the house. She didn’t want to be seen by Doc.

  He looked at his feet.

  Zeke clapped him on the back. “I appreciate the offer, Doc. But you might just want to stay away for a day or two, for your own sake.”

  Doc’s jaw worked back and forth. “I’m no coward, Greene. Don’t worry about me.”

  “You’re a good man, Doc. I’ll be seeing you when things cool down.”

  Zeke joined the ladies in the house. “Sit down Sarah, Madeline. I need to have a word with you two. Madeline, I was willing to see you through with your business plan. It’s not every day a farmer has a ready market that no one else shares.”
/>   The finality of the tone in Zeke’s voice made Madeline’s heart sink.

  “But you seem to have found yourself in hot water.” He ran his hand through his thick hair. “Doc let me know what happened, and I don’t believe it was any fault of your own.”

  Sarah sniffed.

  Zeke gave his wife a sharp look. “I do not believe it was her fault. However, the damage is done. No one likes the Mayor. But seems enough people like his establishment to keep him in charge.”

  Madeline understood what his establishment was, but the idea that people would let a temptation like that steal their freedom wrenched at her heart.

  “Mr. Cary is no small threat.”

  “Mr. Sutton is to come by soon and see us.” Sarah’s plain tones were softened by her husband’s presence.

  “Sutton is a good man.” Zeke said. “If he offers for you, this will all go away. Even Mr. Cary wouldn’t say a word against Sutton’s wife.”

  “I can’t marry Mr. Sutton.” Panic boiled up inside of Madeline. “I don’t know him at all. I just can’t.”

  “If Mr. Sutton wants to marry you, Madeline, you will say yes. We’re new to this town and we can’t live down a scandal of the kind Mr. Cary could create.” Zeke left the table.

  “You’ll learn to love Mr. Sutton, after a fashion.” Sarah’s words were one more command and had no air of comfort in them.

  “You married for love, Sarah.” Madeline searched her sister’s face for some hint of sympathy.

  “That was almost twenty years ago.” Sarah touched the lock of hair that had escaped from her bun. It was streaked with gray. “And I had a father and mother to guide me through courtship.”

  “Please help me.” Madeline squeezed her hands together under the table to keep herself from crying.

  “That’s what we are doing.”

  “I know that God can protect us through this. Can’t we just wait and trust in Him?” The price of a train ticket back to Ohio was too much for Sarah and Zeke to give her, but maybe, if she promised to pay them back….She’d rather leave and owe them money than stay and marry Mr. Sutton.